Reuse materials and equipment (and facilitate future re-use)

9.2 Reuse materials and equipment (and facilitate future re-use)

Reuse is the efficient use of waste products without the need for further processing.

Refurbishment is the best example of the reuse of a building.

Examples of possible reuse in terms of construction and demolition waste include the following building items:

• Whole timber components such as floorboards, rafters and doors.
• Construction materials which have been unused such as bricks, timber, plasterboard, metal and plastic components.
• Bricks (the use of hydraulic lime mortars in buildings and walls built before the 1940s means that these bricks can be easily reclaimed.)
• Tiles, slates (although damage to the slates is possible) and copings.
• Antique articles such as fireplaces and wooden beams, floorboards and sanitation ware. (Approximately 1500 enterprises within the UK currently specialise in architectural salvage.)
• Steel girders if removed with care may be reused or the steel can be recycled.
• Sanitary ware and other components.
• Unwanted furniture and fixings can either be reused in-house or given to charities which collect and redistribute these items for reuse.

Useful links for guidance are;-

• http://www.smartwaste.co.uk/index.jsp
• http://www.bre.co.uk/